Salve Regina baseball triumphs over nationally-ranked Amherst, 11-6

SEAHAWK BASEBALL RESULTS

Salve Regina 11, Amherst 6
Newport, R.I. - Reynolds Field
Saturday, April 16, 2016

NEWPORT, R.I. - Salve Regina University baseball freshman Zack Smith (New Canaan, Conn.)collected three hits and scored two runs to help lift the Seahawks over #14/#19 Amherst College, 11-6, in non-league action at Reynolds Field on Saturday.

The Purple and White (16-5) entered their first-ever meeting with Salve Regina with national rankings in Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA/D3Baseball.com. Salve Regina (11-8-1) has a season-long five-game win streak and has three wins over NESCAC competition (Bowdoin - twice; Amherst) while averaging 12 runs per game in the contests.

Series and Streaks
Salve Regina and Amherst played for the first time ever in baseball today. The Seahawks extended their season-best win streak to five games. 

Three Seahawk Stars of the Day
1 – Salve Regina freshman catcher/outfielder Zack Smith (New Canaan, Conn.) - banged out three hits to raise his batting average to .361 on the season, and also scored two runs.
2 – Salve Regina senior outfielder Ryan Kelly (Waldwick, N.J.) - two hits included his third triple of the season to extend his school record to 16 three-baggers. He also knocked in two runs.
3 – Salve Regina freshman pitcher Brett Wilkes (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) - earned a quality start with six innings of work and allowing just three earned runs in his first collegiate victory.

Key Stat of the Day
Salve Regina improves to 3-0 against NESCAC competition while averaging 12 runs per game in the contests.

Turning Points
Salve Regina sophomore Alex Perry (No. Attleboro, Mass.) and freshman Colton Eremian (Boca Raton, Fla.) both contributed two-out, two-run singles in the bottom of the fifth to break a 3-3 deadlock.

Quick Hits

• Salve Regina's Kyle Lefelar (Potomac, Md.) became the third different Seahawk pitcher to earn a save, joining Jimmy Fitzgerald (Canton, Mass.) and Sean Healy (Wakefield, R.I.).
• Ryan Kelly now has 10 extra base hits on the season (three doubles, three triples, and a team-best four homeruns), just one behind team leader Alex Perry (eight doubles, three triples, one home run).
• Zack Smith has eight multi-hit games in 19 played this season.
• Ariel Kenney (Chula Vista, Calif.) and Yanni Thanopoulos (Highland, Calif.) paced Amherst with two hits apiece.
• The visitors committed seven errors which led to five unearned runs for the Seahawks.

Quotes
"I'm obviously thrilled about the win playing on a tough, windy day in Newport. Offensively, we got on top of the baseball, did the little things, used the short game and got some clutch two-out knocks. And that's a great first career win for Brett Wilkes. He had a quality start and competed. Kyle (Lefelar) came in and kept their hitters off balance to finish it off. Now we've got to wake up and continue it tomorrow." - Salve Regina head coach Eric Cirella

Next up
Salve Regina (11-8-1, 3-1 CCC) – Sunday, April 17 at Wentworth, 11 a.m. [DH]
Amherst (16-5, 4-2 CCC) – Sunday, April 17 vs. Castleton, 1 p.m.